Wednesday, February 22, 2012

"Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart"

(Psalm 37:4).

To delight is to please greatly, something in which we take great pleasure. So how do we delight ourselves in the Lord? Allow God's word to teach us how.

"But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night" (Psalm 1:2).

"I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word" (Psalm 119:16).

"And I will delight myself in Your commandments, Which I love" (Psalm 119:47).

"Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, Who delights greatly in His commandments" (Psalm 112:1).

These verses, and numerous others, teach us to delight in God's law, His commandments.

If we delight in God's commandments, what will this delight cause us to do? It will cause us to OBEY His commandments. "I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart" (Psalm 40:8).

The opposite would also be true. "To whom shall I speak and give warning, That they may hear? Indeed their ear is uncircumcised, And they cannot give heed. Behold, the word of the LORD is a reproach to them; They have no delight in it" (Jeremiah 6:10).

If God’s word brings us no delight, it will be a reproach to us. We will scorn it. Isn’t that what we do when we refuse to obey what God has commanded?

There are many other ways we can delight in the Lord. For this time, we will mention only a few of these.

God desires to be our comfort, and this should bring delight in the Lord. "In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul" (Psalm 94:19).

Delight in praying to God. "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).

As we grow in delight in the Lord, we also should be growing in the proper fear and reverence of the Lord. "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear" (Hebrews 12:28).